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The Mongol Derby. 12 days, 600 miles across Mongolia, more or less following the route of Genghis Kahn's version of the pony express. It finished a few days ago. The winner was a 70 year old man from Boise, ID of all places. Is his nick name Frank Hopkins?



After more than a week spending 12 hours per day on horseback, one Idahoan finished what’s known as the world’s toughest horse race — and set a record doing it.

Robert Long of Boise crossed the finish line of the Mongol Derby about 9 p.m. Tuesday — Wednesday morning in Mongolia — after riding more than 600 miles across the Mongolian Steppe. The race, which is in its 11th year, is meant to replicate the route of Genghis Khan’s horseback messenger system of the early 1200s. At 70 years old, Long is the oldest person to ever win the Mongol Derby, beating 41 other competitors from across the globe.

In a Facebook Live interview from the finish line, Long joked about the grueling trek.

“My horse just won the Mongol Derby,” he said.

“It’s nothing, you just ride 650 miles on a death march. There’s nothing to it.”

It’s a task that would be daunting to just about any equestrian, said Long’s girlfriend, Stephanie Nelson, in a phone interview.

“This type of grueling, body-bruising ride ... (most of us) are not prepared for that,” said Nelson, who lives in Donnelly.

Even Long, who has been around horses his entire life, had never attempted something like the derby prior to signing up last fall. Nelson said he began training with endurance riders immediately, completing his first endurance race in January. Most endurance rides top out around 100 miles.

“Bob isn’t just the oldest, he has ridden better and stronger, camping out more, than anyone else,” said Tom Morgan, head of the Adventurists, which puts on the race. “We opened up the course this year to make navigation a key skill again, and Bob absolutely nailed it. The man is tougher than a box of concrete.”

To make the race even more challenging, the entire derby is ridden on small, scrappy Mongolian horses that are “semi-feral.” Each rider switches out horses at multiple veterinary checkpoints to ensure that the animals aren’t overworked.

According to a news release from the derby, Long switched horses 28 times during the eight days he was on the trail.

Many of the horses come from local Mongolian families, who lend their racing horses and workhorses for the derby, and even allow riders to share their homes along the route.

Nelson said that in addition to meticulously planning his route — there was no marked trail in this year’s derby — and gear, Long had to plan which gifts to bring for the families that hosted him.

“He took a bunch of blue ribbons (from U.S. equestrian events), and every time he came in first, he’d take a ribbon and tie it on the horse’s tail,” said Nelson, explaining that the blue ribbon is very significant in Mongolia.

In the Facebook video from the finish line, Long tied a final ribbon on his winning steed’s tail after being presented with his own blue silk scarf.

“The communities just took him in as their own, and I think (the ribbons) were a big key to his success,” Nelson said. “By the time he was ready to go, they were scrambling to give him their best horses.”

And it wasn’t just the horses that ensured his success. A post on the derby’s Facebook page called Long “the most bad ass cowboy you will ever meet.” A former Healthwise employee with a Ph.D. in public health, Long also has skills in extreme mountain trail competitions, bronc training and ranch horse versatility work. He’s also a meticulous planner, Nelson said.

“He researches and plans down to the gnat’s eyelash,” she said. “He had a prescription for how he wanted the race to go, and it went pretty much perfectly.”

Long navigated with a Garmin GPS, taking calculated risks like riding through tough marsh terrain to shave off time and stay ahead of the pack.

His horsemanship background came in handy when choosing and bonding with his many mounts, Nelson said — an especially important rapport when dealing with unfamiliar horses.

“You get on these suckers and hope you’re pointed in the right direction,” Nelson joked.

“It’s very different from how our horses are trained here.”

Nelson, a GIS expert by trade, kept tabs on Long’s trek via a live tracker, which let her feel as if she was riding along with him.

“He rode like Bob,” Nelson said. “And if you know Bob, you know that’s different from everybody else.”

switched horses 28 times. cool!!

Horsemanship...is one thing, strength, brains and toughness too? What a man.

Impressive achievement!

Hoo boy, better keep this out of the mainstream equestrian media. They would flip out at the thought of those poor horse babies being ridden like that. I would love to see a documentary of the ride.

"Tougher than a box of concrete"

Well there's a new one.

You can be dumb as a box of rocks but if you're a box of concrete you're one tough sob.

Amazing feat for any age person! I wouldn't be able to walk for a month, after two days riding!

Great post! Thanks, good to know I can aspire to be a bad-a$$ by age 70, tho mine would prob’ly involve bicycles.

I’ll bet these guys approve.....



Putting Mongolia on my bucket list.

Riding horseback for six hours,traveling to and from Little Elk Basin when I was half his age,left me slightly sore the next day.

He must be quite the equestrian to do six hundred miles on 28 different horses.

Kudos Mr.Hopkins.

Inspirational for us, mature citizens. What a ride!!

I love hearing about guys my age doing stuff like this. My concept of hell could involve 600 miles on a horse.


mike r

Mongolian Hip Hop!

Impressive +P.

Hardcore!

Impressive for sure. I did 40 miles in one day and I was tired!!!! Knees were hating me as well

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/24/us/18-year-old-tevis-cup-horse-race-craigslist-trnd/index.html?utm_source=fbCNN&utm_content=2019-08-25T16%3A38%3A06&utm_term=link&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3W5QdWoPOq9lb3suCWF1XsRXCRMeTcr-TOH8Vy7YYz0oHgPZgi9VQrB10

An 18-year-old woman won a 100-mile endurance race with a free horse from Craigslist
Ryan Prior

By Ryan Prior, CNN

Updated 4:16 PM ET, Sat August 24, 2019
Goober isn't the only horse her family has found on Craigslist, Sanoma Blakeley says.
Goober isn't the only horse her family has found on Craigslist, Sanoma Blakeley says.

(CNN)After 16 hours pushing through the world's most rigorous endurance horse race, 18-year-old Sanoma Blakeley and her horse Goober were sprinting all-out under a black sky in California's Gold Rush country.
Neck and neck with them was a three-time winner of the race, Jeremy Reynolds. Blakeley, meanwhile, was striding atop a horse her family found for free on Craigslist.
"He passed me a couple of times in the last four miles," Blakely told CNN. "We were running our horses as fast as they were willing to go."
In the end, Blakeley finished about a horse length in front of her competitor.

After galloping out at 5:15 a.m. near Truckee, California, she and Goober had endured three canyons, multiple river crossings and epic elevation changes while traversing 100 miles on the Western States Trail.
One hundred eighty-four horses began this year's Tevis Cup. The race standings show 98 horses crossing the finish line.
Riding between points near Truckee to finish near Auburn, California, they were competing in the 64th annual running of the Tevis Cup on August 17. It bills itself as the world's most difficult equestrian endurance ride.
The 10-year-old Goober has been Blakeley's family for eight years.
The 10-year-old Goober has been Blakeley's family for eight years.
'You get out what you put in,' Blakeley says
Eight years ago, Blakeley's father Wasch answered a Craigslist ad offering the horse up for free.
"He didn't know the guy," Blakeley said. But it wasn't the only time they've found horses that way. "We've gotten a few good horses on Craigslist."
The family owns Blakeley Endurance Stables, where Goober is one of seven horses under their care.
The horse may not have come from strong racing stock, but Blakeley does. Her mother has completed six Tevis Cups and her father has finished five of the races.
Blakeley began racing horses in the American Endurance Ride Conference when she was just 6 years old. She first attempted the Tevis Cup as a 12-year-old in 2014, and then again in 2016.
Both times she didn't finish. The race has numerous veterinary stops throughout the course, where vets perform metabolic tests on the horses, and require a horse's pulse rate to fall to a certain level before the horse and rider can press on.
She said in her past attempts, her horse didn't pass muster at vet stops marking the 55th and 68th miles, respectively.
One difference this year: her horse.
"He was feeling really strong the whole day," she said. And when Goober's pulse rate fell to a normal resting rate faster than other horses, Blakeley could get a head start out of the vet stops.

Winning the race was a product of a lifetime of hard work for the young woman who hails from Terrebonne, Oregon.
"It was just a lot of time conditioning," Blakeley said. "You get out what you put in."

Excellent! I can't even imagine.

One tough ole SOB. That would make the old Pony Express Routes look like a cakewalk. 🤠

Rock Chuck, don’t want to rain on your parade....well maybe just a little 😉! Mr Long (Bob) was born in Cheyenne, Wy. So.... maybe we can share the honor. memtb

He can't help where his parents lived 70 years ago. He moved to Idaho as soon as he was able.